Rosshan Andrrews decodes the 'pyramid fight' in 'Kayamkulam Kochunni'

Filmmaker Rosshan Andrrews knows how to develop a well-delineated character that can entertain and inspire at the same time. For, he knows how to infuse the right amount of melodrama for the masses. As part of Onmanorama's exclusive 'decoding a scene' series, Andrrews explains what went behind in creating the most challenging fight sequence in his latest movie 'Kayamkulam Kochunni'.

“There are many action sequences in this movie and many have appreciated its action scenes, especially the one in the pyramid. The latter happens amid a particular festival sequence where Keshan (Sunny Wayne ) has to grab Kochunni and in between Kochunni is all set to get married to Suhara (Priyanka). Festival (utsava) fight is something that we have seen commonly in many movies. So we wanted to present it from a different perspective and we had a range of discussions over it as to how could we depict it. That is when I thought of building a human pyramid and do the fight sequence within that,” he said.

The visualisation

Everything buds from an idea and the idea has to be implemented, that is how Andrrews visualises his movies.

“I told Bobby-Sanjay (scriptwriters) about the fight in a pyramid. The duo appreciated it and then our task was how to execute that idea. Generally it is the story board that we do first, but with this concept we focused on making a previz (previsualization). If the stunt scenes were broken down shot by shot, we could convert them as animation movements. With a vague idea of the movements, we approached a production company in Mumbai. Shot divisions were done first and then a rough round was pictured as to how much space the people should use for the pyramid. Both the marriage shot and the fight scene have to take place inside the pyramid. So we needed to have a scale,” he said.

The implementation

Talking what went behind, Andrrews said, “Once the previz was set, a round structure made of steel was created to place people one on top of the other. About 170 professional people were hired and we placed them on the structure.”

The choreography was done by a German fight master Tolga who trained Nivin Pauly and Sunny Wayne for this particular scene for four days.

“It took 3 hours to set up the human pyramid and shoot the sequences. We laid the gravel below and hid the cameras in it. Sadly, it was hard for us to shoot as the artistes were standing on a steel structure. So the shoot timings were from 7 to 11.30 in the morning, and then we resumed the same from 3 pm and went on till 5. Once a man standing on top had convulsions and the whole team got really scared. One thing that I make sure before taking such risky actions is to safeguard the artistes. We already had a doctor and an ambulance on set. As this happened, the man was immediately rushed to hospital," he recalled.

The action you see is actually mixed martial arts involving Aikido, Tai chi and Kalaripayattu.

“As the fight sequences were over gravel, we reproduced the sound heard when one stamps on it. And on top of it, we made the men in the pyramid chant. The concept which I had in mind was that during the chant in the background two people would be fighting within the pyramid. I am glad that I could execute the same with my technicians,” he said.

The final product

"It took four days to shoot this particular scene. The cost was approximately Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore for the fight you have seen. The Mumbai professionals who formed the pyramid needed Rs 15-20 lakh per day and we used them only for two days. The rest we shot with junior artistes. Previz is something that helped me in the course of visualisation and it took about three months. Each action in the movie was made after shot division and previz.”

“This scene was made taking into account various technical aspects in cinema and it gives me immense pleasure to know that people loved this scene. This was perhaps one of the best sequences in 'Kayamkulam Kochunni'," he concluded.